Meltan

About

Meltan is a Steel-type Mythical Pokémon debuted in 2018 in the lead-up to the release of Pokemon Let's Go for Nintendo Switch. The character has the body of a "Ditto" Pokémon with the a hexagonal head that resembles a hex nut. The character garnered attention due to its mysterious roll-out in Pokemon GO.

Origin

On September 21st, Twitter user @Chrales tweeted a series of code from the augmented reality game Pokémon GO, which originally named the character "Kecleon" (shown below, left).^[1] Later that day, they tweeted, "new kecleon icons," which showed images of the character that would become "Meltan." The tweet received more than 500 retweets and 1,700 likes in four days.^[2]

Around this time, on September 22nd, players of Pokémon GO began reporting seeing the character in the game, after the game's monthly Community Day event. However, when caught, the character was revealed to be a shapeshifting Pokémon known as Ditto.

On September 25th, The official Pokemon YouTube Channel released a video entitled "New Pokémon Discovered: Introducing Meltan!" In the video, Pokemon Professors Willow and Oak revealed the character. The video received more than 224,000 views in 24 hours.

Spread

Following the original leak of the character, among other conversations as to whether or not the Pokemon was a placeholder model or a bug, people began mocking the characters design. Instagram user @mikegoplay posted a Who's That Pokémon meme, which calls the character deez nuts. The post received more than 170 views in two days (shown below).^[3]

On September 25th, the official Pokémon GO Twitter^[4] account posted artwork of the character with the caption, "Attention, Trainers! The identity of the mysterious Pokémon that started appearing recently has been revealed! Professor Willow and Professor Oak have teamed up to investigate." The tweet received more than 1,200 retweets and 4,200 likes in 24 hours.

Additionally, Serebii.net released official artwork of Meltan.^[5] They tweeted the image, which received more than 1,900 retweets and 4,900 likes in 24 hours (shown below, center)

Some Pokémon fans were disappointed with the character design and began referring to Meltan as "nut boi." Tumblr ^[6] user mrdanielfriell posted an image of the character with the caption "What do we think of little ‘NutBoi’ then folks?" The post received more than 500 notes in 24 hours (shown below, right).

Melmetal

On October 24, 2018, a new video was posted to the official Pokemon Youtube channel (shown below, left), showcasing the evolved form of Meltan after several of the creatures merged, named Melmetal. Making Meltan the first Mythical Pokemon known to evolve and, like it's pre-evolved form Meltan, also a Steel-type, it was originally foreshadowed in a previous trailer for Pokemon Let's Go, where its silhouette could be seen near the end. However, it was here that it was officially shown. Further details were revealed such as its unique Steel-type move "Double Iron Bash" and how it could be obtained.

After its reveal, many noted the creature's larger and bulkier build, compared to Meltan's smaller and more malleable form, sometimes using the term "absolute unit" to describe it. As of Pokemon Sword and Shield, the only way to obtain a Melmetal in the main games is to transfer one from Pokemon GO, as the app remains the only way to evolve Meltan.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References